It is common to ventilate attics and roofs of building structures to remove stagnant or hot air with ventilating systems. A common ventilating system includes an open slot running along the length of the roof ridge causing ventilation of the attic by convection airflow and the wind blowing across the roof creating a negative pressure and moving the interior air to the exterior. The vents are provided to permit ingress and egress of gas or air. Ridge vents are typically combined with gable or soffit vents through which air can flow into the space below the roof to encourage a continuous flow of air from the ambient environment, through the space beneath the roof and back to the ambient environment through the ridge vent.
For centuries inventors have tried to solve problems associated with vents which simply consist of openings in the structure of a building, through which air can readily pass. One problem is that insects, rain, moisture, or other undesirable elements can also pass through the openings into the structure. Accordingly, ridge vents, that use an air permeable material such as a matting of randomly oriented interconnected or reticulated synthetic fibers, or a less dense air permeable material construction, have been used to attempt to inhibit the passage of insects or rain while permitting the flow of air. These types of materials were used to provide a desirable air permeable sealant material for use with ridge vents. Examples of reticulated materials in ridge vents are found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,953 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,579. In addition, an example of a strip with two materials, one having a greater concentration of matter for contact with a metal roof in comparison to the other material that was described as less dense for use in allowing air to permeate the material, is found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,363. In U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,363, the material of greater density or greater concentration of matter has a smoother surface for engaging the roof section and the less dense material with a more porous surface filters the air and engages the ridge cap. Yet another venting system for ridge vents is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,154 that is similar to U.S. Pat. No. 5,167,579. However, U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,154 further includes metal ridge cap and clips for retaining the mat material position. The invention disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,561,953 was developed to provide a system wherein the reticulated material is shaped on a bottom surface to conform with the transverse contour of an underlying roof such as might be found on tile roofs, corrugated aluminum roofs, metal roofs having upstanding projections and the like. Disadvantages of ridge ventilation systems of the type disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,561,953; 5,352,154; or 5,167,579 reside in the fact that the reticulated material rests directly on the underlying roof surface. Since the reticulated material is a very open material that does not present a continuous flat, smooth surface to the underlying roof, it does not provide a desirable sealable surface between the ridge vent system and the underlying roof. U.S. Pat. No. 7,594,363 attempts to provide a smoother surface for a better seal however condensation may be trapped on the interior of the vent system. U.S. Pat. No. 6,773,342 recognized the problem of moisture on the interior of a vent system with an upper water barrier and a lower water dam to attempt to prevent water from entering but again does not provide a method for draining the moisture once present. U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,383 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,079,166 attempt to drain the moisture on the interior of a vent system once the moisture is present by including weep holes, however this method has not proved to be as effective as desired. Accordingly, it would be desirable that a ridge vent system include a vented closure strip that was not only air permeable so that the building structure was adequately ventilated, but also a system whereby the sealant strip could be positively sealed to the underlying roof and ridge cap above to prevent the ingress of rain, insects or the like between the sealant strip and the roof as well as the ridge cap and in addition allow for the condensate and moisture trapped in the area of the ridge vent to effectively drain. It is to overcome the shortcomings in prior art systems and to provide a new and improved system for sealing a ridge roof vent that the present invention has been developed.